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Wednesday, July 31, 2013

The alarm went off at 6.00 am but a quick check of
the wind revealed it was still easterly. Besides it was hosing it down out
there! Back to bed so. Unfortunately I crashed out till 9.00 am by which time
the wind had gone round to the SW but my possible morning seawatch time had
evaporated! It would have to wait till later.

By 13.00, the conditions were
looking great - the wind was a good strong south-westerly, but the mist &
rain had gone off, leaving a good stretch of viewable sea below the
mist-obscured horizon. But I was still stuck in the office! Slowly the clock
ticked round until a text came in from Mizen - 1,500 cory's shearwaters this
morning! Feck! Amazingly the report I was working on almost finished itself and
I was finally off to Galley!

10 minutes later and I was in
situ. The mist was really low again, with just a narrow strip of sea visible
close-in, while the wind was a healthy south-west force 4-5. Set the scope up
and after one manx shearwater, a cory's came through with 3 great shearwaters - all
really close! Fantastic! The next half-hour was incredible, with amazing views
of cory's and greats coming through really close.

The mist slowly lifted, allowing
more sea to be scanned. About 30 minutes into the watch, things suddenly went
up a gear, as a fea's-type petrel flew into the scope view! The angle that it came in at
meant I didn't really have to think about it, and I only managed one expletive
before the adrenalin rush hit - Amayzing! I watched it flap and swoop all the
way past, until saying goodbye to it just before it disappeared from view. I
did wonder how many years it would be till I'd see another one.

Good birds continued to go by,
with big shears every one or two minutes, and occasionally something else. A distant small skua turned out to be a
long-tailed skua, with two pomarine skuas slightly further out. Only my 2nd long-tail for
Galley. I was delighted!

But then that fea’s thing
happened again! Something with black underwings flew into my scope view, and
after a couple of seconds revealed itself to be a second fea's! By this time,
I’d been joined by CC, and we both enjoyed the views this time, with the bird
even landing on the water briefly - slightly more distant than the first bird,
but with a pale "collar" round the neck that the first one hadn’t
showed – a different bird! Two fea’s in
one day!

As it disappeared we
congratulated each other and tried to calm down and concentrate on what else
was moving through. Cory's were still going by every few minutes, with a few great shears in amongst them, while another four long-tailed skuas and three more poms
were very welcome. A bonus fly-by
turnstone was also crucial from a Golden Mallard perspective!

But then things just got stupid,
as 45 minutes later the day’s third fea's appeared in my scope from the east. At about the
same range as the first bird, this bird also gave great views as it whizzed its
way west. Amazingly, this bird also showed a distinct plumage difference from
the other two, as it had extensive white around the face. Make that three fea’s!

Unsurprisingly the rest of the
seawatch was a blur, and activity began to tail off after about 18.30. However, the final species tallies were
pretty spectacular: